A&M to hire South Carolina's Hyman as new athletic director

KRT SPORTS STORY SLUGGED: FBC-TCU KRT PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSICA KOURKOUNIS/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM (DALLAS OUT) (January 30) FORT WORTH, TX -- Eric Hyman, Texas Christian University Athletics Director, speaks about his desire for stability at a press conference on Friday, January 30, 2004, announcing that the University has accepted an invitation to become the ninth member of the Mountain West Conference beginning with the 2005-06 season. (nk) 2004. HOUCHRON CAPTION (02/02/2005) SECSPTS: HYMAN.

Photo: JESSICA KOURKOUNIS

COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M has tabbed South Carolina's Eric Hyman as its new athletic director, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Hyman, a former TCU athletic director, has spent the past seven years as the Gamecocks' athletic director and will bring plenty of Southeastern Conference experience to Aggieland.

A&M is exiting the Big 12 on Saturday and joining the SEC on Sunday. A&M's regents, during a board meeting Friday, are expected to authorize school president R. Bowen Loftin to negotiate an agreement with the new athletic director.

Jason Cook, an A&M vice president and co-chairman of the school's athletic director advisory committee, declined to name any specific candidates. Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich also was on A&M's short list, according to the Georgia Tech Rivals.com website, and an A&M insider said Houston's Mack Rhoades was considered early in the process.

Hyman, 61, is a former standout North Carolina football player and was TCU's athletic director from 1997-2005. His son and daughter and their families all still live in Fort Worth.

Barring a last-minute change of heart, Hyman will replace Bill Byrne, who retired last month with more than a year remaining on his contract. Hyman is expected to lead either an extensive renovation or complete rebuild of football's Kyle Field, beginning after the 2013 season.

Under Hyman's leadership, South Carolina earned the school's first men's national title in any sport when the baseball team won the College World Series in 2010. The Gamecocks followed with another baseball title a year ago.

Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle covering Texas A&M athletics. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball.

Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. He’s a four-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the San Antonio Express-News, including a second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione “secret newsletter” scandal in 2007.

His coverage of Texas A&M’s move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three children: Will, Zoe and Brady.